Technology as an invention: The project Homo Creator

The article highlights the concept of Homo Creator formulated basing on a fundamental analysis of the existing theories in the philosophy of technology. Poser criticizes the functional approach towards the essence of technology and suggests changing it into the neothomist understanding of technology as a choice of the most optimal solution among an initially given scope of possible solutions. By doing so, he demonstrates his adherence to Dessauer's interpretation of technology. The model seriously evolves by engaging Hartmann's ontology of the four stages of word understanding and by defining the place of technical artifact in it. He develops the relevant system of categories and redefines a relation of human-technical object. This scheme is linked to the downward causation suggested by Karl Popper and results in a model of user-constructor-inventor (in different roles). In this model, an inventor's idea, which has emerged from some correlation between categories of possibility and need and is coming into existence in a draft drawing, puts frameworks on a material construction of the technical artifact by a constructor. Such an approach demonstrates a universal character of the technical artifact. Basing on Poser's ontology, this article considers the possibility of using the notion of “non-Humboldtian trading zone” for describing and understanding a contemporary communication between software developers and users.